Biggies - Major Works

JM44851 200 B.C. _ Parts & Score

Category: Wind Band Catalogue - Biggies - Major Works
Composer / arranger: Gregory B. Rudgers

Grade 4. The melodic material used in 200 B.C. is from a two thousand year old Greek hymn to Apollo. The legendary adventures of Odysseus as described by Homer in the Odyssey (ca. 700 B.C.) provide the programmatic material.
Each movement of the work depicts a key event in the epic Homeric poem, as described below.
Movement I: Intrada
Movement II: Ballad
Movement III: Dance
Movement IV: March
Building from a delicate woodwind ensemble accompanied by finger cymbals to a fully orchestrated statement replete with thundering percussion, this is a resounding march of victory. Odysseus has returned in triumph to restore dignity to his household and to reclaim the throne of the Kingdom of Ithaca.

JM45177 A NAME PERPETUAL - Score & Parts

Category: Wind Band Catalogue - Biggies - Major Works
Composer: Eseld Pierce

A Name Perpetual (Hanow a bes vynytha) was commissioned for the Cornwall Youth Wind Orchestra by Keskerdh Kernow, an organisation formed to promote the Cornish culture and to commemorate the Cornish Rebellion of 1497, when the people of Cornwall rose up against the Monarchy. Under the leadership of Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamanck, a Cornish host, sometimes estimated to number as many as 15,000, marched to London in protest against excessive taxation. Arriving at Blackheath, they were attacked by the King's army and defeated, and the two rebel leaders were hung, drawn and quartered. On his way to his death, An Gof stated that he would have "a name perpetual and a fame permanent and immortal".
A Name Perpetual tells the story of the Rebellion in four connected scenes. The music includes strong elements of the Celtic music tradition, being structured around an old Cornish folk tune. The first scene introduces fragments of the folk theme and reflects the anguish of the Cornish people. The second scene opens with the folk theme on solo piccolo and, as different instruments enter one by one, the march is depicted with its accumulation of forces en route.
The march halts suddenly as the Cornishmen discover the unexpected arrival of the English army and the subsequent music portrays the Blackheath Skirmish. In this scene the orchestra is divided into four parts, each working independently to create a sense of chaos, with the stronger elements of the brass and bass instruments representing the English, while the woodwind and saxophones represent the Cornish, struggling to sustain the folk tune throughout the battle.
Eventually all the parts come together and the final section is a lament for the lost Cornishmen, fading away to leave only a haunting off-stage trumpet solo
Grade 4.5 duration 10 minutes

The first composition for wind band by this composer recollects the unsuccessful rebellion of the people of Cornwall in 1497. In four sections she evokes the battle against the Monarchy using folk music from her homeland. Although the means are modest, the result is so moving that the listener needs silence at the end. A sensational work which deserves a wide audience.
Clarino Magazine
CHV 7CD: Music for the Millennium
The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Plymouth
conducted by Major P J Rutterford

JM45178 A NAME PERPETUAL - Score Only

Category: Wind Band Catalogue - Biggies - Major Works
Composer: Eseld Pierce

JM46490 ACADEMIC FESTIVAL OVERTURE - Parts & Score

Categories: Wind Band Catalogue - Biggies - Major Works, Wind Band Catalogue - Openers
Composer: Johannes Brahams
Arranger: James Curnow

Grade 3
Duration 4.20

In 1879 Johannes Brahms was given a degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Breslau. For this special occasion, Brahms composed his Academic Festival Overture in an expression of gratitude to the university.

The entire overture is based on musical themes and ideas taken from a collection of German student songs. These songs represent many styles and moods and capture the spirit of the student body of the university. The best known of these songs is presented in a grand finale that draws the overture to an exciting conclusion.

This arrangement is designed as a telescopic view of the entire overture. All of the original thematic material is presented in its original order, with some limitations placed upon the development sections.

JM46317 AD ASTRA - Parts & Score

Category: Wind Band Catalogue - Biggies - Major Works
Composer: Joseph Horovitz

JM49795 ALBION HERITAGE - Parts & Score

Category: Wind Band Catalogue - Biggies - Major Works
Composer: Philip Sparke

Grade 4.0

JM44852 ALIEN VISITORS

Category: Wind Band Catalogue - Biggies - Major Works
Composer / arranger: Bob Margolis

Grade 3.
Alien Visitors has a science fiction theme: What would it be like to be visited by aliens? The movement titles - Arrival, Aliens, Attack - are descriptive of the action: In Arrival, we hear the starship as it approaches, growing larger and larger and louder and louder. Aliens is a character study of our visitors. At the end of the movement they disappear in an upward-wafting cloud of musical smoke. The final movement, Attack, describes a vicious, mechanized attack.

JM46157 ALL AFOOT - Parts & Score

Category: Wind Band Catalogue - Biggies - Major Works
Composer: Gordon Jacob

Prestige Series - Grade 4.5
Performance time 6'21

An easy suite from this master of band music. Each movement describes a different aspect of walking.
1. Hikers
2. Strollers
3. Joggers. "

(Recorded on QPRM115D GREAT BRITISH MUSIC FOR WIND BAND, Western Band of the Royal Air Force)